The invention relates to a self-supporting cartridge having at least one reception chamber for a medium to be dispensed extending in a longitudinal direction, further to a dispensing apparatus for such a cartridge, as well as to a method for use of such a cartridge.
In the industrial domain, in the construction trade, for example of buildings, and also in the dental field cartridges are frequently used to store flowable substances and, on demand, to dispense these for the respective application. Examples of such substances are joint sealing compounds, compounds for chemical dowels or chemical stays, adhesives, pastes or impression material in the field of dentistry. Typically these cartridges are made from plastic and are produced in an injection mold process.
One differentiates between a one component system in which the material to be dispensed is only made of a single component, and a two or more component system in which at least two different components are stored in separate chambers of the same cartridge or are stored in separate cartridges, with the components being thoroughly mixed on dispensing by means of a dynamic mixing apparatus or of a static mixing apparatus. An example for this are two-component adhesives which only harden following the mixing of the two-components.
It is typical that the cartridges have an axially displaceable dispensing piston through whose movement the material is dispensed from the chamber or the chambers. It is naturally understood that the chambers must have a sufficient wall thickness so that they can withstand the resultant pressure on dispensing. Since such plastic cartridges are generally only designed for a single use, a significant amount of waste results both from the volume and also from the dimensions which is also particularly detrimental under the aspect of environmental protection.
A known alternative for plastic cartridges is represented by hoses in which the respective material is stored. These hoses are then inserted into special support apparatuses or dispensing apparatuses to dispense their contents for the respective application. In particular, from the point of view of the waste volumes such hoses are significantly more favorable than cartridges; however, they have other disadvantages. Significantly more complex filling apparatuses are required to fill the hoses and to close these. Moreover, their storage is more problematic as, on the one hand, the hoses are not self-supporting and, on the other hand, the hoses are significantly more sensitive than the cartridges so that particular measures and/or packages have to be provided for their storage.